Sneak (Swipe Series)

gratitude and relief on her face upon seeing him—her younger brother, the hero, coming to free her, to wake her from her nightmare.
    Instead, Logan stood slouching, overwhelmed, embarrassed, feeling younger than he had in years, while his sister looked on, rolling her eyes.
    “You flunked, didn’t you? You flunked your Pledge. Logan, how could you be so stupid?”
    For a moment, Logan stood with his mouth open, as if words were intended to come out. But none did.
    Lily shook her head and began leading her brother in a wide lap around the courtyard.
    “I would have,” Logan finally said. “I would have flunked. But I escaped, Lily. So that I could rescue you. Lily—DOME didn’t bring me here. DOME doesn’t know I’m here at all. I’ve come to break you out.”
    “That was a mistake,” Lily said simply.
    “No. Lily—no, it’s not! I know what you’re thinking—but it’s not impossible. The whole Markless community is on our side. Everyone in Beacon—we’re all working together on this. To get you out of here!”
    “You’ve brought Markless into this?”
    Logan stuttered for a moment, trying to regain his thoughts.
    “I—of—Lily—of course I did. They want to help. Lily—they want to help you!”
    Lily looked very frustrated now, not at all touched or relieved or anything else Logan could have predicted. Just frustrated . That was it.
    “Did you ever think , Logan? Did you ever stop to think about the consequences of your actions here?”
    “I— what ?—of course I thought—”
    “You come here, halfway across the country . . . you leave Mom and Dad, you drag innocent people into it . . .”
    “Lily, listen to me, please. You have to trust me. This isn’t some half-baked plan.”
    “Oh, it isn’t? Really? Because you have no idea what you’re up against, Logan! No idea what’s really going on. Don’t you have any sense of how fragile this situation is? You’re a traitor now, Logan. Do you know what that means? It means you’re headed straight down to level nine.”
    Logan was growing frightened now, very frightened, by his sister’s anger. He racked his brain desperately for something—anything— that might knock some sense into her. That might get her to cooperate.
    “Peck,” he said, finally. “Your friend, Daniel Peck. He’s here. He came with me. He and I—we’re . . . we’re in this together! For you!”
    “Daniel’s here? You brought Daniel too?”
    “Yes. Yes! Let us help you, Lily. Please. Let us help you get out of here. We’ll run away. We’ll all run away together. Just come with me now, Lily. Come with me, and we’ll never look back. Will you do that for me, Lily? Please?”
    “It changes things, having Daniel here.”
    Lily stopped now, by a trough. She leaned down and let the water run over her hand, and for a full two minutes, she didn’t say anything. She didn’t look at Logan. Instead, she looked out toward the stone archway through which the stream flowed. Finally, she nodded. “Okay,” she said. “Here’s the plan.”
    3
    For Peck, it had been an excruciating couple of hours. He was lying on his stomach in the air duct, face pressed against the grate for any sign of Logan or Lily, and by this point, even just keeping his head up was a chore. His neck was cramped and sore, sending sharp pains down past his shoulder blades and all the way up into his skull. His head ached, his arms were numb, and his legs throbbed terribly.
    Three hours , Peck told himself . You promised yourself that. To succeed or fail, Logan needs time. You can’t jump the gun on this. You’re the last chance for the plan to succeed. There won’t be another .
    The minutes passed, and new prisoners came and went. Each time it was the same for them: arrive through the sliding metal door, line up at the sign-in desk, cross to the elevator, and disappear into Acheron. How many had it been now? Peck had lost count long ago, and yet another batch arrived now, all shaking and crying and wide-eyed.
    In each group, there were one or two stragglers. One or two that would thrash and scream and refuse to board the elevator. Invariably, these new prisoners were allowed to throw their fit. Never once did the Moderators intervene. The vestibule they’d been brought to was so depressing on its own—so filthy and stuffy and swarming with flies—that it never took long for the prisoners to break down, to convince themselves that anything beyond that elevator couldn’t be much